September 17, 2010: miscellaneous

September 17, 2010: Not much to report today that's different from other days. Teaching went well except for that 9E class 2 class! One boy wrote a note to a friend that I confiscated in the middle of class. Of course it was written in Hungarian so I kept it to find out what it meant. From the time that I took the note to the end of class, all the students became very quiet and attentive. No wonder why when I found out what the message said. Nothing about me, but the student who wrote it pled with me to get it back at the end of class saying that if I revealed it to the other teachers, he would be severely punished. I did not give it to him but told him that it would remain between the two of us but I told him that he would have to behave in the future. He apologized promising to be good from now on and left. I later asked a male teacher to translate it for me and I'm glad it was a male teacher I asked because the message was not very nice. Such are teenage boys.

At lunch I ate with Gabor who told me that his wife is on maternity leave. I asked about that for Hungary and learned that new mothers are given maternity leave and paid as follows: 100% for the first six months of maternity leave; 70% for the next 18 months, and if they desire to stay at home longer than those two years, they would get around 20,000 forints (~$90 ) for another year.

I've learned recently that most teachers have several private teaching jobs. No wonder – there's no way that anyone could live comfortably with what teachers are paid. Too bad. From what I can see, all the teachers at Ujpest High School are very dedicated to their students and take their jobs very seriously. But then again, that's the way it is in the US, too.

I stopped at the market to get a few staples for my kitchen and returned home to rest after this exhausting week. It's raining right now anyway so being inside is perfect.